New English translation of the Mass – introduction date confirmed

Preparations for the publication of the new translation of the Roman Missal are moving forward in England and Wales.

The Roman Missal in its new English translation will be published by the Catholic Truth Society in Autumn 2011.

This means that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference can now confirm that the full text of the Missal will be used at Mass from the First Sunday of Advent this year.

An important milestone

The date for commencing use of the Missal is now confirmed because an important milestone was reached this week in preparations for the publication of the new translation, after the fully checked and approved texts were sent off to the printers for turning into proofs, prior to commencing the printing and binding process from Easter. Meanwhile the leather covers are being prepared and printed. The printing of Missals is very labour-intensive in order to produce a book that is both of high quality and designed for ease of use. Nevertheless, copies will be ready to be delivered to parishes for the beginning of November in plenty of time for the first full use of the new translation.

September 2011 – Preparations for the full use of the new translation in Advent 2011

The full use of the published Missal from the beginning of Advent will be preceded by the use of just the Order of Mass in the new translation from September 2011. For these three months from September to November, the Church in England and Wales will become familiar with those parts of the translations which are prayed at every Mass, and this will be accompanied by catechesis on the Mass and the new translation.

The Catholic Truth Society is publishing for use in this introductory period an Order of Mass for use by celebrants, which is an elegant but inexpensive extract from the complete text. Texts of the Order of Mass for the people to use will also be available from a number of publishers, from June 2011 onwards.

“This is a significant stage in our preparations for the new translation of the Roman Missal. I know that the bishops of the Department are very grateful for the care and attention to detail which the Catholic Truth Society has shown in producing a worthy and beautiful Missal for the Church in England and Wales.”

Fergal Martin, General Secretary of the CTS, said,

“Our team has worked very closely and constructively with the Bishops of England and Wales, Scotland and Australia so as to arrive at this point, and we are pleased that the process is moving steadily forward, on all three Ritual Editions: the Altar Missal, Chapel edition and Study edition. We hope that people will find them both beautiful and robust.”

Further Information

Liturgy Office information about the new translation of the Roman Missal:

I spoke yesterday with the person responsible for this in Scotland, and he says the Bishops will be meeting mid-April to determine the timeline for the implementation in Scotland. So I can only say you should watch the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland for news. As I understand it, CTS will distribute the ritual missals to England, Wales and Scotland in October/November, with England and Wales commencing use from the start of Advent. England and Wales are running an introductory period using the new Order of Mass only, from September; it has yet to be determined if something similar will happen in Scotland.